


i'm gonna send thee two by two

by nowrunalong



Series: soulmate verse [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Pete's World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 14:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8920090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/pseuds/nowrunalong
Summary: Clara and Rose take a break from travelling to have Christmas at home.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perfectlyrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/gifts).



“All that time, all those _places_ , and I didn’t pick something up for her.” Clara flails her arms a little, nearly hitting Rose in her frenzy.

“Clara, it’s fine. You don’t have to bring a gift for my mum.”

“Don’t be absurd. Of course I have to bring a gift for your mum! I can’t _believe_ I didn’t—”

“We’ll find something. Just… pick her up a box of truffles. Mum loves truffles. Thinks I don’t notice when she sneaks one from the box, but it was always the two of us, so—”

“It just doesn’t feel right,” Clara says, barrelling on in her worry.

“I know you’re nervous—”

“That’s an understatement—”

“—but it’ll really be fine. Mum’ll love you, no matter what you do or don’t bring.”

Clara lets out a breath, the real worry exposed. “You think? I mean, I’ve met lots of people’s mums, but this is different, what with you being… you, and everything.”

Rose grins and takes Clara’s hand, squeezing her fingers reassuringly.

“She’ll love you,” Rose repeats emphatically. “Trust me. And Tony’ll go crazy as soon as you’re through the door. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t already met her.”

“That was once. At a party. To talk about school. This is different. This is _Christmas._ What did you get her?”

“The purse I bought at that market Italy.”

“Ooh,” Clara says, remembering. “That’s right.”

“You see? It doesn’t have to be something… I dunno… mind-blowing. Just something she likes. Anyway,” Rose tugs a little on Clara’s hand, “let’s keep moving. We can’t stand around all day.”

They’d been hovering outside a shop window to admire its Christmas display when Clara had remembered her gift for Jackie. Or rather, her lack of a gift.

“Right you are,” she says again, shaking her head a little to clear her thoughts. Christmas always comes with stress for Clara: her need to please other people gets pushed past its limits, and she inevitably finds herself rushing around til the very last minute rather than taking the time to enjoy the holidays herself. This year is different: Jackie is preparing the whole meal, and all Clara has to do is show up.

Naturally, she’d still found other things to stress about. Her outfit, for starters. Her hair. Her _gifts_.

They keep moving down the street til Clara stops again, tightening her hand around Rose’s to halt her in her tracks.

“How about a photo album?”

“Of? What, us?”

“Oh! Or just a few pictures in frames. We just passed a craft shop, we could—I was just thinking, because I didn’t see any pictures at your house—although, of course,” Clara babbles on, “there was a huge party going on, lots of media attention, so—”

“Yeah, we put the pictures away when the reporters are coming,” Rose says, amused. “Don’t want to draw attention to the lack of baby pictures. The rumours are bad enough already. Photos, though—I like that idea.”

“We could print a couple of us off. To…” Clara hesitates.

“To add to the family mantle? ‘Course. You are family, babe.” Rose leans in to kiss Clara on the cheek, and then tugs her hat down a little further with her free hand. “Now, come on. My nose is turnin’ to ice out here.”

Still holding hands through their thick winter mittens, they turn back the way they came.

—

Clara thinks later that she needn’t have worried. Rose always spoke fondly of her mother, and Clara trusted that Rose loved good people.

She feels at home here, in the house that neither she nor Rose had grown up in. Comfortably full of turkey and stuffing, string lights twinkling on the walls—and Rose’s arm draped over Clara’s side in her bed, her face pressed into Clara’s hair. It’s this familiar weight along with the familiar rhythm of Rose’s breathing that makes Clara feel warm and safe, the way nothing else had ever done in quite the same way.

She’s home for Christmas anywhere in the world as long as she’s with Rose.

The rest of her holiday stress evaporates as Clara closes her eyes, nothing on her mind at all except for the feeling of Rose Tyler curled up behind her.


End file.
